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cghegan 's review for:
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Ronson capitulates this important narrative by posing important questions about the impreciseness of diagnosis in an imprecise and ever-evolving branch of medicine (and how this science inevitably intersects with and is influenced by societal expectations and morals, human behavior, and pursuit of power): who decides who is ‘dangerous’ and who is being served by or profiting from diagnosing human behaviors? But to be honest, I was overcome at the end by the thought that, “Damnit, I wish someone AFAB wrote a companion piece.” Ronson touches on gender-related points but often the issue of domestic violence felt like an elephant in the room, like an editor said: we couldn’t possibly fit this all in to one book, so don’t go there. There are many illustrative examples of how strangers with violent tendencies / maladaptive behaviors enact violence upon others (and most of them described to be women) and pose a threat to society… less focus is placed on the financial/emotional burden on families. And again: maybe that’s just not what this book is supposed to be. But every time Ronson starts to nod at the topic, he pulls the narrative elsewhere, and that it became a pattern has me chewing the whole thing over…
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail